Via Free Frequent Flyer Miles, United’s Mileage Plus Dining (the co-branded Rewards Network dining rewards program) is offering 250 United miles for creating an online profile by December 31st if you haven’t already done so.
Via Free Frequent Flyer Miles, Amtrak’s Pick Your Partners Promotion offers 250 free Guest Rewards points for selecting preferred partners (very easy! Just log in and the offer is under Hot Deals) and then 500 bonus points for each of your first two transactions through September 30th.
National Car Rental is offering 1000 free Air Canada Aeroplan miles for signing up for a free Emerald Club membership by November 30. There’s also an additional 2000 miles on offer for your first rental with National by November 30 — but the signup bonus doesn’t require renting a car.Looks like US and Canadian residents only.
Los Angeles (LAX) to Phnom Penh (PNH) on China Airlines (CI). Change planes in Tapei. Bookable at Travelocity. Non-refundable, non-changeable. Usual fare is ~ $1000. Travel on the outbound transpacific sector must commence between 5 September and 4 November, so there’s just a two month window for travel. If you have Priority Club points you could pair this deal with a special at the Phnom Penh Intercontinental, which is showing up as a “Point Breaks” hotel at only 5000 points a night instead of the usual 40,000. Or you could travel a bit farther to Siem Reap and see Angkor Wat. Personally this is another one I’m not taking advantage of. I’d first have to buy airfare to Los Angeles. I don’t have any means to upgrade on China Airlines. CI travel earns 100% of…
Because Reliant Energy offers American Airlines miles for using their electricity. The ‘up to 7500 miles’ are broken up and awarded after the 2nd, 6th, and 12th invoices. And I don’t know what their pricing etc. is like. But miles are the second reason (no state income tax is the first) for me to consider moving to Texas.
Via Upgrade: Travel Better, Bruce Schneier has a multi-part interview with TSA Director Kip Hawley that makes for a fascinating (though not in my view confidence-inspiring) read. Start with Part One then continue with Two and Three. I’ll be checking back tomorrow and Thursday for parts Four and Five.
For all the complaints about award travel, and this is something I’ve written about before (and by no means to brag), I really don’t have too much trouble finding award seats. That’s partly because I have a critical mass account balance with several different airlines and major alliances, so when I go to redeem if there isn’t availability with one I simply query another. But it’s also because I redeem nmostly for premium class international travel, and while those tickets aren’t always available on all routes by any means, I’ve often seen the biggest complaints – with a few notable exceptions – to be about the old fashioned 25,000 mile domestic awards. And those are hardly the best value anyway. I’d just assume pay my $250 – $400 for a flight between DC and California,…
Tyler Cowen points to what the cost of transportation used to be, from The Pursuit of Glory, Europe 1648-1815 In England it was calculated that one horse was needed for every mile of a journey on a well-maintained turnpike road. So, for the 185 miles from Manchester to London, 185 horses had to be kept stabled and fed to deal with the seventeen changes required by the stagecoaches which traveled the route. Those horses in turn required an army of coachmen, postillions, guards, grooms, ostlers and stable-boys to keep them running. …A journey from Augsburg to Innsbruck by stagecoach, although little more than 60 miles as the crow flies, would have cost an unskilled laborer more than a month’s wages just for the fare. Kinda puts gripes about airfare in perspective.
This past weekend I cooked some more of the Thai food I learned to make in a cooking class earlier in the month in Khao Lak. This time, in addition to remaking the soup and chicken dishes previously mentioned, I made duck in red curry. Gaeng Phet Ped Yang (Roasted Duck in Red Curry) roast duck red curry paste veggie oil coconut milk light coconut milk baby eggplant cherry tomato kaffir lime leaf lychee diced pineapple sugar palm fish sauce Heat the oil, add chili paste, then add and saute thinly sliced duck. Add coconut milk, light coconut milk, tomato, eggplant, kaffir lime leaf, sugar palm, salt, and fish sauce. Serve with rice. Yum!
I have a hard time understanding why Thai Airways runs their updated 3-class 747s with angled lay flat business seats and true flat first class seats on a short run like Bangkok-Phuket. Seems like poor fleet planning at first glance, though I haven’t looked at whether the planes also fly internationally and this is just a way to get a few extra hours’ of flying time out of them. Asiana does something similar, flying 3-class planes sold as 2-class. (I flew Hong Kong-Seoul earlier this month, and an old style 747 was running the route on the day I traveled.) Trick is just to request the first rows of the plane when traveling on a business class ticket. Worked no problem for me on both carriers.Of course, American still does the same thing on certain…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
